Malaysia Bounce Back To Beat UAE In ACC U-19 Premier League

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 (Bernama) -- Malaysia bounced back to its winning ways after suffering an unexpected defeat to Nepal Monday by beating United Arab Emirates (UAE) by five wickets in the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-19 Premier League, here Tuesday. The boys won the match by 5 wickets with 216 balls to spare after accumulating 59 runs in 14 overs at the Kelab Aman Oval, here. After winning the toss, the home side chose to field and did a great job to wipe out the visitors (all out) in just 53 runs from 20.3 overs. The Malaysian side which later went in to bat managed to sustain UAE's fast bowler Yodhin Punja with man-of-the-match Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak boosting the score with 32 runs, hitting sixers in last two balls to claim victory. Despite the win coach Thushara Prabath Kodikara was unhappy with his boys' for their below par batting prowess and urged his boys to work harder if they aspired to beat defending champion Afghanistan on Thursday in their final match. "Yesterday (Monday) we had a bad game against Nepal and we discussed so many things in the dressing room after the game on how to play this game. We are familiar with this ground, that's why when we put them to bat and then used our advantage to finish them off quickly. "We fielded and bowled very well today (Tuesday). But during the batting...Our boys upset me, we got our good batsmen, young talent but they are not showing how talented they are and I hope they will come back stronger on Thursday," he told Bernama after the match. Meanwhile, for Syed Aziz, 16, the win would be a great motivation for him to face Afghanistan, the toughest team in the league based tournament. "The previous game was a little failure for me but this game is a great come back and gives a lot of confidence. I was a bit nervous because we lost wickets initially, that is why we extended the game for a while before hitting back," he said. At the Bayuemas Oval, Afghanistan outclassed Saudi Arabia to remain top of the table with eight points after winning all four games while Nepal beat Kuwait at the Kinrara Cricket Academy. Malaysia and Nepal now share second place after both teams collected six points from three wins followed by Kuwait and UAE in fourth place with two points and Saudi Arabia at bottom of table without any points. On Thursday, Malaysia face Afghanistan at the Kinrara Cricket Academy, Kuwait take on UAE at the Bayuemas Oval while Nepal face Saudi Arabia at the Kelab Aman Oval. -- BERNAMA